The Transformation of the Greek Colonial Poleis of Magna Graecia and Sicily
Roman Gentrification - The Transformation of Town and Country on the Italian Peninsula - Peter de Graaf
Peter de Graaf [+]
Description
In Chapter 7 I will investigate the towns of Magna Graecia, focussing on the transformation of Metapontion (Roman Metapontum) and the province of Sicily. Metapontion was a flourishing polis in the south of the Italian peninsula up to 300 BC. The town was impacted by frequent warfare; the Pyrrhic and Second Punic Wars were decisive for its future. What remained of the town in the Roman phase was a concentration of habitation within the area of the former Roman castrum that covered 14 ha. The modest size of Metapontum was not unique: 40 official Roman towns on the Italian peninsula fall within the 10–15 ha range. The second case that will be discussed did not have Greek-Hellenistic antecedents, but Lucanian. Whereas the former Greek colonial poleis of Southern Italy were located in coastal areas, this was not the case for Grumentum. In the final section of Chapter 6 I will explore the province of Sicily and evaluate if the proposed Roman gentrification model has value for analysing Roman urbanism in the provinces.